Bella loves bugs is a book from the Nature heroes series. Bella is a little girl who wants to become an entomologist. She takes us with her through her day of studying different bugs.

This book is packed with interesting information and detailed illustrations. The writing is engaging. A very valuable and educational book for kids. This would also make a great classroom resource.

What a cute book! I think this is a nice way to introduce different types of bugs to young children!

Fun fact, I have started a little personal children’s library of my own for someday down the road if I end up with future generations, and if not for any little visitors. I’ve so enjoyed collecting and choosing books so far and my family has even gifted me some. We are a big and nature family so when I saw this on NetGalley I thought what a great way to see if this is one I would like to add to my collection or gift to someone.

‘Bella Loves Bugs’ is part of the Nature Heroes collection and is full of fun facts. Each book focuses on a different child and their passion for a different topic, such as birds or the planet even. We love to get sneaky learning in when we can right?! It is by author Jess French and Illustrator Duncan Beedie. Come be an entomologist!

Not only is the writing engaging the illustrations are perfect, down to a bug hair barrette for Bella. I loved that the beginning included safety tips for bug hunting, such as never touching their wings. Make sure to keep an eye out for Nancy the cute spider who tags along the whole way as the best little sidekick. It also had information on very basic equipment and where to best find certain bugs such as pond life and the ground, air, and flowers. It covers some basic metamorphosis and the different shapes and growth of bugs. We learn about what bugs build what, such as webs or other homes. We also find out what bugs come out at night and most importantly how you can do your part and protect both bugs and animals. I thought the page lengths were good and the illustrations and text would for sure hold both a child and adults attention. I think this would be a great gift, a great classroom book, or even perfect for after school or day care. I especially enjoyed and appreciated the emphasis on protecting Mother Nature.

Many thanks to Happy Yak an imprint of the Quarto Group Publishing for providing me with an eGalley/PDF copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was published on April 19th, 2022. I know I will for sure be purchasing a copy for my collection. I can’t wait to read more books in this series.

Bella Loves Bugs is jam-packed with information, but it's given in small doses and sidebars so young readers can pick and choose what to focus on. It's the type of book that youngsters will look at many times and use as a reference book. I learned several unknown facts, including that when slugs are scared, they can blow bubbles in their slime.

It encourages experiments and children will want to try many of the activities such as dipping a white tray into a pond or hanging a sheet and adding a light to see moths.

I appreciated how author Jess French included even "yucky" bugs such as woodlice and maggots, since they have important roles. I also appreciated the author pointing out that creatures shouldn't be caged for long, but released after they've been studied.

Illustrator Duncan Beedie chose pleasant colors, and I enjoyed the many details and the kid-friendly style.

Super cute and informative. Loved the illustrations and all the explaining. I’m not sold on the house spider chiming in. Overall a great educational book about bugs.

Bella Loves Bugs is a science based and adorably illustrated book on entomology for young readers (ca 4-7 years) by Dr. Jess French and Duncan Beedie. Released 19th April 2022 by Quarto on their Happy Yak imprint, it's 48 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is such a whimsical and charming book. I was impressed with the number of engaging facts and nature information crammed into the pages. The pages are set up in frames with text boxes explaining safety, equipment, how-to find and interact with insects and information relevant for both children and their caregivers/facilitators. Although the illustrations are drawn and there aren't photographs, species pictures are clear and specific enough for general identification.

The grouping of insects is also charming and logical for small kids. The author and illustrator have grouped them into "bees", "hopping insects", "pond creatures", "beetles" and so on. Scattered throughout are gentle reminders for readers about how they can help support, feed, and guard habitat so bugs will always be there. The book also includes a bit of info on other invertebrates (snails and slugs).

The collection details in the book emphasize catch and release and gentle observation. The author never mentions collecting for display, and there are no kill-jars or euthanasia details included.

For educators, the children in the book are ethnically diverse and main character Bella is a little girl with friends who are both male and female. It's refreshing to see a wide variety of representation. It's never emphasized in the text, but it is there.

Five stars. This would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, classroom use, or the home library.

Disclosure: I received a pre-release recording at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Kids, meet Bella. You will have lots of fun with her as you learn more about bugs. Join Bella as you learn about caterpillars, ants. bees, butterflies and more. There is a lot packed into this cheerily illustrated title.

I was very impressed by the quantity and quality of the information in this title. I highly recommend it to young entomologists and their adults.

Many thanks to Quarto-Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and NetGalley for this title. All opinions are my own.

From the characters we meet here I guess there will be four books in this series, with this one – as you can tell – giving us a day in the life of a bug fan. Bella is a wannabe entomologist so knows how to fish bugs from pond water safely, how to lay traps to examine captured critters before letting them free, and how to have some caterpillars in her house. Oh, and spiders get mentioned too, even if of course they're nothing like insects. Visually it's very cartoonish and flat-seeming, but the book has more in it than may at first be evident – multiple font sizes means different levels of captioning can be given to all the close-up illustrations, and there are relevant box-outs and galleries to be had too. Ultimately, being like Bella looks a cool thing to be.